NEW HAVEN: India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Bahaman partner Mark Knowles lost to the Brazilian pairing of Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa 5-7, 2-6 in the doubles final of the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven on Saturday ahead of the US Open, which starts today.

The Indo-Bahaman pair start off their US Open campaign against the Swedish pair ing of Johan Brunstrom and Thomas Johansson.

A win in New Haven would have been ideal preparation for the US Open.

Melo and Sa jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first set after breaking Bhupathi.

But Sa was broken in the next game. Both teams held serve throughout until the 12th game when Knowles double-faulted at decisive point.

In the second set, the Brazilians went up 4-2 by breaking Bhupathi and then broke Knowles in the eighth game on decisive point. 

Bhupathi came into the tournament on the back of a quarter-final loss at the Beijing Olympics with partner Leander Paes.